Chapter 7: The long winter began with the dog-like howling of a little brother who sold fried dough sticks.
*Fully edited*
Wei Qian once imagined that one day a reporter would find him and his younger siblings living like dogs in such an old apartment, and then the reporter would take a few photos, and with a stroke of a pen write a tearful and nauseating title like "Aspiring teenager working hard, so siblings can attend school. Young shoulders carrying a family." Government agencies would come to their doorstep to donate money, all kinds of various wealth people would be willing to donate and he just had to go on TV and take a picture with them whilst holding a big cheque. [TN: We have the same dream WQ]
However, reports like "Poor college students", "Poor middle school students" and "Poor primary school students" are still broadcast on TV every day, but none of them contacted Wei Qian.
These days there are so many poor people that they probably needed to wait in line to get on TV, just like when people waited in line to buy a car or purchase a lottery ticket.
The term was about to end and the weather was getting colder and colder. In the morning, before dawn, Wei Qian rode a second-hand bicycle out of the door. He didn't have gloves. By the time he arrived at school, his hands were so cold that he could barely feel them, the only thing he could do was lower his head and sprint upstairs while simultaneously rubbing his hands together at a very fast speed. Today, when he went upstairs, he happened to run into his headteacher. The headteacher was a middle-aged female teacher, whose surname was Li, and she was usually was very kind to him. Wei Qian was a serious student who studied hard, got good grades, and had a low-key attitude. If he happened to be more energetic and his teacher was a woman, he was basically doomed to be spoiled by a teacher at school.
Teacher Li called to stop him: "Hey! Just in time, I ran into a young man, come and help me move something!"
Wei Qian helped her bring back 20 catties (1) of rice and two barrels of oil issued by the school and carried them all the way to her office.
Teacher Li smiled and asked him: "Have you had breakfast?"
Wei Qian paused and shook his head. Teacher Li took out a piece of bread and a piece of ham from under the table and handed it to him: "You must have been late getting up from bed this morning, take it and eat."
Wei Qian smiled a little, embarrassed, and took it whilst thanking her.
Teacher Li didn't know about his family’s situation. At that time, the children in high school were all wearing school uniforms. Except for a few who loved to be clean, the boys were all equally sloppy and untidy. Both brand-name bags and bags brought from street stalls were all full to the brim, to the point where one would be unable to make out their original shape. They would ask girls for their crisp cans (2) after they'd finish with them, and use them as pen holders on their desks.
At that time, people were unexpectedly equal. At first glance, it was impossible to see which one was the mayor's son and which one was an orphan who had to do odd jobs to make ends meet. There was a family questionnaire at the beginning of the school year, there was a column for parents' workplace. Wei Qian stared at the space for a long time, and at the end, he wrote the word "self-employed" randomly...
Besides, nobody questions whether he actually had a job or if he was a deadbeat. Teacher Li stood up, patted his shoulder and said: "Go, quickly, today is Monday, the flag-raising speech is today right? Go back and go over it a few times. Don't forget your words later."
It's an old tradition for every class to send students to the podium for the flag-raising speech. Before Wei Qian went to the podium, he couldn't help but stiffen his back. It's not that he was nervous, but that he had taken a stick to the back in a scuffle last night. When he got up in the morning, it was black and blue. It was very painful.
Wei Qian stood on stage and off by heart finished his speech, which was full of the theme of dreams, with the usual perfunctory and polite applause from the yawning students.
Wei Qian smiled very lightly before taking two steps back and handing over the microphone to the host. When he was about to step down, Wei Qian finally stood on the high stage and scanned the panorama of the campus—
A row of ginkgo trees with yellow leaves about to fall, a 400-meter standard sports ground, a red brick teaching building, and young students in school uniforms. There were also several big cherry trees in front of the teaching building, it was said that they were a hybrid between Southern cherry trees and a local species. Every spring, there was a thick layer of petals floating down, which could bury people's feet. It was a pity that he hadn’t had the chance to see them since he started school in autumn.
Wei Qian looked like he was trying to take it all in with his eyes, then he turned away and descended the stone steps down the podium without looking back. He went back to the classroom before everyone was dismissed, quickly packed up everything he had, picked up the withdrawal application he had written in advance, and headed towards the Academic Affairs Office. The headteacher didn't know much about the students and just routinely asked the reason why. Wei Qian didn't want to make himself look like a poor out-of-school child - it was useless to talk about it. The school might have given him money to help continue his education out of sympathy however his main problem wasn't lack of money for education, he needed more money, or more time to earn money to support his family.
If it can't solve the problem, why put his fragile ego on display for all to see?
So Wei Qian, who suffered from Chuunibyou syndrome (3), downplayed his situation and simply explained that his family was moving to another place and he could not continue to study here. Leaving the faculty office, he passed by the basketball court where the basketball sports students were training. A ball flew towards him, he reached out nimbly and took it, whistled and threw it back, the boys in the gym waved at him from afar, "Thanks, buddy!"
Wei Qian smiled at him, but then his smile became dry. He did not stay any longer and quickly bowed his head.
Wei Qian carried his heavy school bag to a rag collector not far away, dumped all the books and papers out of the bag and sold them for a dollar and twenty cents, Wei Qian scraped together another eighty cents and used the two dollars to buy a carnation (4), slipped into teacher Li's office while she was in class and put the flowers on her desk, then he left the school with his empty bag on his back.
He rode his bicycle home. The Mazi and his mother who sold breakfast had not yet closed their stalls. Mazi met Wei Qian and asked in amazement: "Qi—ye—Qian'er, you- why did you come back? Forget, Forget, forget something..."
Wei Qian got off of his bike, threw his empty schoolbag behind him, and calmly interrupted him: "No, Mazi, I’m not studying anymore."
Mazi was unresponsive for a while, not understanding what Wei Qian meant he blankly repeated: "Not- not- not- not studying anymore?" Wei Qian: "Well, I dropped out." Mazi's reaction had always been slow, he probably had a brain problem, and Wei Qian sometimes wondered if it would take him a minute to know that it hurt if he slapped him. The brain-deficient Mazi stood frozen in place for more than half a minute, his face of big pimples piled with small pimples turned into a piece of red hot iron, his chest rose and fell violently, and after a moment, his eyes suddenly filled with tears.
Then Mazi leapt towards him and pushed Wei Qian's chest abruptly. Wei Qian staggered, the bicycle fell to the ground, and the wheels were still spinning round and round.
Mazi opened his mouth and yelled, "Ah Ahh wuwu” (5)
The more anxious he was, the more he couldn't speak. He was red in the face and this was his final straw, finally, he couldn't stand it and cried out in a mournful, piercing voice. Although his words were not sharp, he had a good voice for mourning.
Wei Qian's chest was stuffy and felt like it was about to explode.
Perhaps, in the long run, dropping out of school was no big deal, but for a young man who had been studying hard, hoping that it would change his fate, dropping out was like the sky collapsing on the shaky ground he had been struggling to hold on to.
Even if the sky was falling, Wei Qian didn't want to cry with Mazi on the road, it would have been unsightly. Therefore, Wei Qian just bent down and covered the sad expression that flashed on his face by pulling up his bike. Then he raised his head and squeezed a nonchalant, even contemptuous smile: "Why are you crying? Stupid bastard, I'm not dead yet. If you drop out, you drop out, didn’t you all drop out too? What's the big deal?"
Mazi cried, even more, his voice became hoarse as he got carried away. Wei Qian was speechless. He was carrying his old canvas bag and took two steps away from, watching his silly brother wipe a tear with his hand.
The bitter, dry wind and the salt-tinged tears washed away the frost-cracked gash on Mazi's hand, revealing the young, blood-soaked flesh inside.
The long winter began with the dog-like howling of a little brother who sold fried dough sticks.
Wei Qian embarked on his career as a hooligan, and he became an unknown thug under Le Ge.
The young 14- or 15-year old boy had just begun to grow. He didn’t have enough meat to keep up with his growing bones, and his face was still childish. He guarded Le Ge silently every day. He never had anything to say to those old men, who always talked about women and nothing else. But, he'd fight harder and more relentlessly than others, like he had an unspeakable kind of anger lingering in his heart.
Le Ge was very disappointed in this at first. After all, he had great expectations for Wei Qian. He originally wanted to send Wei Qian to university and let him study law or finance. He thought that his business could not be kept in the shadows and that if he wanted to be successful, he would need someone who could exploit legal loopholes and make false accounts. The person had to be smart and trustworthy, Wei Qian was the only one who could pass.
Le Ge had already lined up his grand blueprint for the future in his heart. Everyone, one by one, had been given a purpose, but he did not expect that Wei Qian, who had high hopes for, would become so muddled and unable to make it to the wall that he would drop out of high school. For a while, Le had stopped paying attention to Wei Qian because it was useless.
But he didn't expect that after a year of silence, this kid would become famous. After all, Wei Qian was a teenager and his physical strength was not comparable to that of a real adult, so he did not have an advantage in the "physical work" of being a thug. Le Ge did not think much of him, and usually only put him on duty during the day. The entertainment place under Le Ge’s name was actually a nightclub. Although it was open during the day, it was just an ordinary place to eat, the main event was at night. If there was any trouble, it was usually at night, that was the industry consensus.
Who knew that, in all walks of life, you could always find gangs. And 'true gangs' had their fair share of unscrupulous members; who had no regard for professional integrity—those types of people belonged to a casino in a different city. Their boss was rich and overbearing, and he wanted to pester Le Ge, whom they considered the 'resident thug'. But at that time Le Ge was out of town and too far out of reach, so he sent his men to make some arrangements.
His subordinate was an extraordinary person, who had several characteristics such as cowardice, a bad smell, shamelessness, etc.
The man thought for a while. He felt that he might not be able to get in and out of the club at night, but he didn't dare to disobey his boss's order, so he went to the nightclub in broad daylight to make a scene.
The other party hired a dozen or so burly men who were strong in appearance but actually weak (6). The men arrived at a bustling nightclub in high spirits, ready to start trouble.
The people guarding the venue during the day were either security guards hired through proper channels or youngsters like Wei Qian who were treated like decor by Le Ge they could pretend they were capable but couldn’t actually throw a punch.
The few people who kicked in the restaurant door looked like they had bad intentions, and no one dared to stop them as they barged in. The leader sat down in the hall and made it clear that he was making trouble. He swore loudly, verbally harassed a woman who was carrying dishes. A wine bottle broke all over the floor, and the few diners stood up to leave.
The lobby manager frowned and whispered to a little brother below to call Le Ge. But before the little brother had time to go, Wei Qian in the Entertainment City uniform walked over expressionlessly. A troublemaker thought he was a small security guard who came to stop them, he grabbed his collar not regarding him in the slightest: "Call your boss, a smart boy shouldn’t be cannon..."
The word "cannon fodder" did not leave his mouth, he abruptly changed his tune. The man let go of Wei Qian with a scream, panicked and took five or six steps backwards, his face displaying fear.
There was a big bloody hole in his chest, blood spurted out like a fountain, and people noticed that Wei Qian was carrying a kitchen machete used for chopping bones in his hand.
Wei Qian didn't have any mercy when stabbing people. He didn't even wipe his face as he carried the machete in one hand and picked up a half-broken wine bottle in the other, without greeting or saying a word, he rushed forward to fight like a father's enemy.
There was a saying that "Reckless people are afraid of unreasonable people, unreasonable people are afraid of desperate people". In the first place, these people avoided the peak of the crowd at night and came to cause trouble during the daytime, so they were not reckless.
A dozen or so men, all killed by a person who didn't give a fuck. With that astonishing performance, the bastard had achieved his goal with remarkable skill. (7)
When Le Ge heard about the incident and brought people hurriedly, the battle was over, and he saw blood and drinks on the scene.
Half of Wei Qian's body was drenched in blood, and all that was left on the teenager was a white vest. He sat on a sofa, his arm stretched out so that Sanpang, who had arrived upon the news, could shiveringly clean the broken glass from his arm. His hand hung unnaturally, it was unknown whether it was dislocated or broken.
However, he didn't seem to be aware of pain. He didn't say a word, didn't even look at it. He just lowered his head and smoked a cigarette intently.
Translator Notes: Click here to skip
(1) The catty, kati or jin (commonly in China), symbol 斤, is a traditional Chinese unit of mass used across East and Southeast Asia, notably for weighing food and other groceries in some wet markets, street markets, and shops. WikiLink
(2) Crisp cans like this picture I'm guessing:
(3) Chuunibyou (中二病 / 厨二病) is an often-derisive Japanese slang term for the embarrassing behaviour of 13-to-14-year-olds. The exact "symptoms" of chuunibyou aren't entirely set in stone, but in general, chunnis act like overly melodramaticknow-nothing know-it-alls who think of themselves as more awesome than everyone else because of experiences, abilities and even special powers that they clearly don't have. Source Link
(4) These are Carnations, so pretty!
(5) 呜 [wu] Used as onomatopoeia (sound effects) for crying or whimpering.
(7) 于是十几个人，当场就被一个不要命的全部干翻了，以其惊世骇俗的金玉其表、熊包其中成全了这一段传奇。Both I and my editor are stumped by this so if anyone has suggestions :P
I actually procrastinated this chapter a lot... not that it matters since I always try to keep 3 chapters done in advance so my upload schedule isn't delayed but I probably shouldn't get carried away.
[Edit] I did wuwuwu I'll try speedrun chapter's but if there's a delay next week I apologise in advance blame novels, j-dramas and exams wuwuwu.
The guilty party was the jdrama "Cherry Magic/ Maho" which I watched, honestly my first time watching a live-action bl but wow. I cried so much for no reason ahhhh it was so fluffy and cute :D Made me feel so lonely tho wuwuwuwu I defo recommend if you're into that type of stuff. There's basically no papapa and the kisses are literally them bumping lips which made me laugh (THE MAIN COUPLE DON'T EVEN BUMP LIPS THO) Okay sorry for rambling.. hope you guys enjoy this chapter my heart really hurt for WQ, he had to drop out of school :(
This is the last chapter for January, hope everyone had a wonderful 1st month of the year!! Stay safe :DSupport the author here